


Seeing Our Souls

by penumbria



Series: Seeing Through the Soul 'Verse [2]
Category: NCIS, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover Pairings, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Rape Recovery, Soul Bond, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-07-28 21:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7657525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penumbria/pseuds/penumbria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Tony have met, how will they deal with bonding?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or Stargate. I make no money from this. I only own the soul mate concept I came up with for this series.
> 
> Thanks to my beta lanalucy. I wrote this as a section of the Multifandom Extreme Big Bang 2015/2016 but came up short on the word count.

 

Tony DiNozzo stood just outside the elevator on the mezzanine of NCIS headquarters in Washington, DC. He couldn’t believe the situation he had just walked into. He had been sent away several months before by the new Director of NCIS, Leon Vance, to serve as agent afloat aboard an aircraft carrier. He had been alone and lonely, no friends on board, no real contact with those he had thought were his friends back on shore, the man he had once considered his surrogate father seemingly abandoning him to his new posting, his soul mate had no interest in finding him.

Tony spent time every day contemplating suicide, just falling off the back of the carrier and letting the sea have his corpse. But now, that utter depression was simply gone. Director Vance had recalled Tony to DC and when he arrived he had met the eyes of the man he had waited his whole life to find, his soul’s mate.

The man was tall, with heavily graying hair and deep brown eyes. He was a colonel in the Air Force based upon his uniform. Tony had already known he was military and Air Force but not his rank. And not what he looked like.

Now, the nascent bond had snapped into place as their eyes met and Tony’s emotional pain was buried under a flood of happiness and love. He knew it was artificial, a chemical reaction to the new bond, but he basked in the wonderful feelings anyway. He had spent so long in a worsening depression (for years - even before his recent posting) he needed to feel the positive emotions in life. And he needed the artificial help of the bonding hormones, pheromones, and endorphins to locate those feelings within himself.

Tony was still angry with this man in front of him. It had been decades since he had entered puberty, decades since he had left high school and become an adult. Yet this man had never come to find him. He had lived his life, served his country, married, had a family, fucked his wife regularly, been a POW, possibly retired, re-enlisted, traveled to other planets, and at some point was no longer married. And he had never come for Tony, not until today.

But Tony refused to allow his anger to overcome the bonding high. He knew he needed to feel the high after being so very low for so very long. If he fought against it, ended it too soon, he was likely to plunge back into his depression and the fight back to a normal level would be almost impossible.

The other man stepped forward and Tony’s mouth opened to speak but nothing emerged. It felt like he had been standing on the mezzanine for hours, days, but he knew it had been only a minute or so.

“Tony DiNozzo?” asked the colonel.

Tony nodded, closed his mouth, took a deep breath, and replied with a calm, even tone, “That’s me. May I have your name, colonel?”

The other man huffed. “Sorry. Colonel Jack O’Neill, two L’s.” He held up three fingers. “Technically, the birth certificate says Jonathan Jay O’Neill but it’s been Jack as long as I can remember, which is usually pretty far back, but some days, not so much.”

Tony smiled, “Birth certificate says Anthony Devon DiNozzo, but I prefer Tony. Very much. _Very_ , very much. Don’t call me Anthony. Unless you can transform into an elderly British medical examiner. You’re not a mutant, right? No Mystique like powers? I mean, that wouldn’t be horrible. You could totally rock the blue skin. Maybe not the red hair, but it’s possible.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose. “No. Sorry. Not a mutant. Would be helpful to be a shapeshifter, even better to be a mind reader like Professor X, but no such luck on that front, either.”

Tony grinned.

Jack gestured to the room down the hall. “Can we go into the conference room? We, uh, we need to talk.”

Tony nodded and followed his soul’s mate to the conference room near MTAC. He found himself the focus of three other people as he entered. He only hesitated a moment before sliding into a seat across the table from a man he recognized from a vision several years before. Jack had stopped the man from jumping off a building and killing himself. Tony had envied the man, then and now, wanting someone to pull him back from his own personal abyss.

Jack sat at the head of the table, Tony to his left, the once suicidal man to his right. Next to him was a blonde woman in a major’s uniform, also Air Force, and beyond her was a black stone-faced man wearing a fedora. Tony had seen them both in visions before and understood why he wore the hat but it was still an amusing sight.

Jack cleared his throat. “Tony, this is my team. Major Doctor Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and um, Teal’c … Murray. Guys, this is Tony DiNozzo. _Don’t_ call him Anthony. Ever. Trust me. Never.”

Tony nodded his greetings to the ones he received from his mate’s team. “I don’t mean to be difficult, but why are you _all_ here?”

Teal’c spoke up, “We are to provide O’Neill with support for his morals.”

Tony grinned at Jack. “Worried you’d hijack a building? Moral support. You’re here for moral support. Okay. Big, bad, special forces Air Force colonel needs three people to provide moral support against a single NCIS special agent.”

“See, that there. That’s it. You knew I was special forces. And an Air Force colonel.”

Tony shook his head. “Jack, you’re in uniform.”

“Right.”

Tony sighed, “Granted, I knew you were special forces when I was around fourteen, or well, I assumed. And I knew you were Air Force since about seventeen or eighteen. But colonel was new info for me today.”

Major Carter spoke up, “How did you know he was special forces so young?”

Tony stared at her with a deadpan look on his face. “When I saw him kill a man by breaking his neck and slitting his throat, I made an intuitive leap. Other events simply served to confirm that belief.”

“Like what?”

“Things I saw him do, things that happened to him, that I saw happen to him. It was a logical assumption. And I wasn’t wrong.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Okay. Um, I’m sorry you had to see me do that when you were so young.”

Tony shrugged. “It happened. Isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen.”

Jack’s eyes widened but he didn’t speak up. Dr. Jackson took the initiative instead. “Most branches of the American military have special forces sections, like Navy SEALs. How did you determine Jack was Air Force?”

Tony sighed. “The only base near Albuquerque, New Mexico is an Air Force base. He was stationed there and living in off-base housing with his wife and son when I was still in high school.”

Dr Jackson was shocked, “How -”

“I was, I think, a senior in high school, maybe a junior, but not of age yet, and my vision that year showed him getting home from the base and entering apartment E or F with the mail in his hand. I couldn’t see the full address or his name due to how it was held but I made out enough. I was going to find him on spring break but, well, I didn’t want to break up his family. He seemed really happy. He rocked his baby, still a newborn. I wasn’t going to fuck up that kid’s life for him. Besides, I figured him not looking for me was a _good_ thing then. I was still a kid myself. It proved that my mate wasn’t a pedophile.”

Jack exhaled sharply. “God. I could have been with you for decades? You saw my _address_?”

Tony nodded. “But, you were the one with the good life. I didn’t want to disrupt it. Figured I’d wait for you to find me. By the time I graduated and thought again, you had moved to somewhere with mountains that wasn’t New Mexico. I know now it was Colorado. Found that out a few years later. Saw you reading a newspaper about a fair and saw the fairground’s name and the paper’s name when you closed it. But you were happy and settled. Almost went to find you a few years back, until I did some research. I thought you might need my assistance to stabilize your brain, thought my vision was a hallucination you were having.”

Major Carter spoke up. “Visions don’t work that way. The person in the vision trance only sees what is physically -”

Tony interrupted what seemed like would be a lengthy lecture. “I know. I researched it. That’s why I didn’t go looking. It wasn’t a mental condition. It was reality. Spun some major theories about that one. Most logical was the true one but I really was kinda rooting for time travel, ya know? You rescuing people from the eruption of Pompeii, that would have been really awesome. Instead, it was much more mundane. There were other times I thought about coming to find you, Jack. The year after the vision of you in what I assume was Iraq, if you weren’t dead or still in captivity, I was going to come if it seemed like you needed help or support. But you were doing the supporting just fine.”

“ _Jack_ was ‘doing the supporting’?” queried Daniel.

Tony grinned slyly. “Uh huh, hands on her waist, she was having quite the good time.”

Jack blushed. “I never even thought that you might see, I mean, you saw me having sex with Sara?”

“Several times. That was the first, though. The first time I saw you with your wife, that is.” Tony’s eyes met Jack’s and the smile dropped from the Italian’s face. “I saw you before that, though. Made me worry about your reaction to me.”

Jack’s eyes dropped. Tony knew he understood the veiled reference though he could tell that the rest of the team thought what he had wanted them to think, that he had seen Jack with other women. Not that he had seen Jack being brutally gang raped while a prisoner of war.

“Okay, well that’s - okay. But back up a minute. You, uh, said something about time travel? Or theories when the truth is mundane?”

Tony allowed the change of subject. “Not sure when the first vision I had of you, um, we’ll call it off-planet, was. I think it was on the volcano world. That was the first time I saw the puddle ring. But I suppose the sandstorm the year before could have been off-planet, rather than the Middle East. The volcano world made me wonder about the different theories, once I discovered I was seeing reality. But the next vision solidified which was true. You made friends with the Roswell Greys. Their architecture was mind boggling. And why don't they wear clothes? I’ve wondered since I saw that.”

Jack closed his eyes. “Yeah, okay, Tony you need to sign some non-disclosure forms. I’ve been worried for years about what you were seeing. I guess - “

Tony huffed a bitter laugh. “That’s why you tried to find me, isn’t it? Not because you wanted to bond with your soul’s mate but because I was potentially seeing highly classified missions. I’ve been seeing them for years. And I’ve never told anyone. I know what classified means and I realized a long time ago that _your_ classified shit was more classified than anything else in the world.”

Jack reached out and took Tony’s hand in his. “I’ve always looked but I never had any useful visions. Not really, not until this year. I’ve always wanted to find you. But I would see you watching TV or running on a track or at the movies. You were on a date with some girl who wore strangely large pendants, or you were delivering Chinese food, driving in your car, or you were unconscious in someone’s back yard, or eating a pizza in a dark car, or on a night solo parachute jump. And what was up with that? It almost set me on the completely wrong track. I figured you must be military or possibly CIA. No one jumps solo at night for fun.”

Tony’s eyes were wide. “Okay, I’ll start there. Wow. We had a case with a team that was going to be jumping from a plane and we caught the killer while on the plane and I got knocked out during a scuffle. The others aborted so we could take the killer in. Eating pizza in a car? Um…”

Jack nodded and pulled a notebook from his pocket. He flipped it open to a certain page and looked over what was written. “Yeah, it was raining hard and there was an older man in the driver's seat. It was pepperoni and some other meat and very cheesy. He pushed you out of the car, not like violently but shoved.”

“Okay, yeah, the older man was my boss, Gibbs, and that was during a sort of stakeout. Sort of.”

Jack flipped a few pages. “And I guess you were bringing the Chinese food here. You were driving your car, you were never a delivery boy, right?”

“Never. I was in my car for the whole vision? Did I hit a lot of red lights?”

Jack shook his head, “No. Lots of green lights, one red.”

Tony frowned, “And you didn’t see the Navy Yard?”

“Nope.”

Tony wrinkled his brow in thought as the others waited to hear the story behind this vision. Tony’s eyes widened, “Was it the year after the parachute jump?”

Jack nodded. “Yep. How’d you know? You don’t have Chinese often?”

Tony laughed. “No. But I always get it delivered to my apartment. And the Chinese place we order from for the office is right outside the gates of the Navy Yard, about two blocks away. I was actually on the way to deliver that food to the Pentagon. I was sort of undercover. Not to the soldiers who let me enter but - it’s complicated and classified. I _can_ tell you my cover was posing as a delivery boy and using my own lunch to do it.”

Jack nodded slowly. “Okaaay. Right. You know my clearance level is higher than yours, right?”

Tony cocked his head. “Yeah. Figured that out when I saw the puddle. Well, figured it beforehand what with the special forces stuff, but, yeah.”

“So, you can explain.”

Tony shook his head. “Not without specific clearance, Jack. It was part of a criminal case. Not about to mess up the prison sentence the perp got. Not just to satisfy your curiosity. You really want to know all of the details of all of my cases? Do it right. Get the okay from Director Vance, or better yet, SecNav.”

Jack sighed. “Fine. I can do that, you know. I can totally do that.”

“Good for you. Friends in low places, huh?”

Jack laughed and Daniel snorted. Carter put her hand over her mouth and Teal’c simply tilted his head minutely. “Fine, whatever, snark, snark, snark.”

Daniel grinned. “He’s got your number, Jack.”

Jack mock glared at the other man and then turned back to his notebook. “Okay, can you divulge anything regarding you being unconscious in a backyard with an open cellphone on the ground near your head?”

Tony hummed under his breath. “Well, I can tell you that I was on protection detail but I didn’t know at the time that the protectee didn’t really want to be protect _ed_ and cold cocked me from behind so they could carry on with their agenda. Can’t tell you what their agenda was or the outcome, other than I was fine and it was all resolved, more or less, but that’s why I was unconscious in the backyard of the - safe house we were using.”

Daniel sat forward, a frown of concern on his face. “The person you were helping hit you?”

Tony nodded. “Wasn’t the first time. Or the last. First time I was caught so off guard. I trusted my bo - Gibbs’ gut when he said the protectee needed to be kept safe. He wasn’t _exactly_ wrong but the protectee wanted things to go down a certain way and I was in the way of that. If I had known it was more of a protective custody of an uncooperative witness, I would have handled it differently. But, well, I didn’t. So, I collected another concussion for my medical file.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Get concussions a lot, do ya?”

“My fair share. Not unheard of in my line of work. And it isn’t like you didn’t collect your own share of injuries, Jack. Just from things I saw, not even counting Iraq, you knocked yourself unconscious jumping from a plane. Training exercise, I’m pretty sure. And I’m sure that you’ve gotten hit by weapons fire over the course of your career. Maybe ray guns are different than bullets but it still counts. I may still have you beat with weird medical files but considering your current posting, I doubt it.”

Major Carter sat forward. “Why would you say that, Tony?”

Tony sighed. “I have a vivid imagination, Major Carter, and have watched lots of movies. I’m betting that Jack has been exposed to things more exotic than Y-pestis in his travels through the Great Puddle.”

Jack started to laugh, “Gre - great p-p-pud-puddle. Great p-p-p-pud-dle. Great pump-pumpkin, Ch-ch-charlie Brown. Oh, God, ‘The Great Puddle’, that’s awesome.”

Tony smiled but it changed to a frown when Daniel leaned forward once more. “Y-pestis? How did you get exposed to that, Tony? Are you all right?”

Jack frowned and abruptly stopped his laughter. “Wait. Wait. What's y-pestis?”

Daniel opened his mouth but Tony beat him to the explanation. “Y-pestis, formally known as _yersinia pestis,_ is more commonly referred to by the layman as plague. The strain I was exposed to was the _pneumonic_ plague. It was a genetically bio-engineered strain that had been created to be resistant to antibiotics and other treatment. An insane woman sent an anonymous letter to the office, the bug protected from irradiation through some smart handling, and I was the idiot stupid enough to open the envelope and get a face full of the powdered form of the bug. I fought through it but it left its mark on me. My lungs are scarred. But I survived. It didn’t beat me. _I_ beat _it_. But I’m sure that Jack has better stories than that.”

Jack reached a hand out and laid it on top of Tony’s on the table. “Tony. I - God. Plague?”

Tony snorted. “Yes. The Black Death itself. And my life was saved by the very man who changed the course of my life when I was in college. Crazy story. Dr Brad Pitt, no relation, broke my leg in college and killed my chances of going pro in a sports career. And I was being scouted by a few teams, too. But he tackled me hard, I landed badly and thus I fell back on my fallback. When I opened that envelope, Brad was the doctor at Bethesda who specialized in infectious diseases and he saved my life. Life twists in odd ways, I’ve found.”

The team just stared at Tony for several seconds, no one seeming to know what to say. Then Teal’c spoke. “The saying is: Fate works in mysterious ways, Agent Tony DiNozzo. I, too, have seen this in my lifetime, many times.”

Tony smiled at the large man. “Truer words are rarely spoken. And really, you can just call me Tony, if that isn’t an insult or taboo where you’re from.”

Jack looked at Tony. “Tony?”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “What? I’ve seen all three of them over the years, Jack. I know why Teal’c is wearing a hat. I know about the gold thing. I assumed he was from - out of town. You _know_ I’ve seen stuff. I’ve mentioned a few of the things. I saw you all running for the puddle set in the middle of a cliffside and being shot at by ray guns and flying ships, I’ve seen you pull Daniel back from trying to kill himself on the side of a building. I don’t know everything but I’m a fairly bright guy. And like I said, I have a vivid imagination. I can extrapolate. I can figure things out.”

Jack nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t - I’m not good at this, talking, emotions, yadda yadda. I don’t think you’re stupid but I didn’t think it through that you probably recognized my team from seeing them on missions and things.”

Tony smiled lightly. “No problem. I’m just - well, I’ve got issues, too, you know. Baggage. I’m used to being underestimated. Stock in trade.”

Jack grinned. “Playing down the smarts isn’t a bad strategy.”

Teal’c spoke once more, his deep voice perfectly even, as he delivered his hit, “O’Neill would know this well.”

Jack waved his hand in the air, brushing the zing aside. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, back to my soulmate. You’d been dating lately, though. Or did ya give it up for Lent?”

Tony frowned. “I’ve been on an aircraft carrier surrounded by sailors who basically see me as a narc. I haven’t dated in a while.”

Jack shook his head. “No, before that. I saw you in a restaurant. On a date. With a girl. She wore really big clunky jewelry. Ugly stuff. And clumsy.”

Tony frowned in thought. After a minute his eyes widened and he laughed. “Nope. Never dated her. She’s FBI and we were undercover on a stakeout at the restaurant. Looking for a - bad guy.”

Jack smiled lightly. “And the rest is classified?”

Tony nodded. “Yep. Sorry.”

“Well, at least -” Jack broke off as the conference room door swung open and hit the opposite wall.

“DiNozzo!”


	2. Chapter 2

Tony looked over at the entrance to the conference room, and striding in like a bull in a china shop was his former boss, mentor, surrogate father, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Tony saw Gibbs briefly falter as he took in the other people in the room but he doubted any of them picked up on the minute hesitation. The only reason Tony was able to see it was his years of experience with the older man. 

Gibbs strode over to Tony at the table and barked out once more, “DiNozzo!”

Tony spun his chair to face Gibbs and raised an eyebrow. “Gibbs.”

“What are ya doing in DC, DiNozzo? Ya don’t work here anymore, remember?” Gibbs growled the words.

Tony took a deep breath and prepared himself for the storm to come. Gibbs was about to get a metaphorical slap in the back of the head and the only reason Tony was able to even contemplate what he was about to do was the high of the bonding hormones flooding his body. They overcame the low self esteem issues that both his biological father and Gibbs had helped instill within him. The bond was giving him strength to say things he should have years before and act like himself and not the box he had been forced into over his years as Gibbs’ Senior Field Agent.

“I was on the carrier, Gibbs. But Director Vance ordered me back to DC for a meeting. You remember who Director Vance is, right Gibbs?  _ Your  _ boss,  _ my  _ boss, the head of the agency we work for, the one who sent me afloat in the first place and broke up your team. If I had time between getting my new orders and the COD, I might have sent you an email but you wouldn’t have read it. I haven’t heard a peep from you since I left DC. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose. How’s the new team, Gibbs? They watching your back? Keeping you out of trouble? Trust any of them yet? Langer is a good guy, even if he was a Fibbie for a while. Smart, capable, pretty street-tough. I don’t really know Keating all that well but he’s greener than McGee was when he transferred in. Smart guy, good with a computer but I bet he regularly wets his pants when you’re around, Gibbs. And Lee, ah Lee, my former probie you just kicked out of her spot on the MCRT and booted back to Legal when you decided retirement was for the birds and you ended your Mexican tequila party. Michelle is a smart young woman, very concerned with the rules and the law, but don’t let her meek exterior fool you, GIbbs. She’s perfectly capable of bending the rules. Finding a way and places to meet with her lover on NCIS property, little nooks and crannies, sneaking off to have a quickie, not very rule following if you ask me. She’s smart, if she had a reason, and a split loyalty and maybe some resentment for - oh, I don’t know - the man and the agency that screwed her over and demoted her without cause - could she bend other rules or laws? I’d say she could.”

Tony saw Gibbs’ eyes widen and his mouth open and close a few times during the speech. Tony sat back and tilted his head, smiling lightly. “I don’t know when you started believing the mask, Gibbs. Once upon a time, you saw through it with no problem. You treated me like the professional I was when it was just us and even during the time of rotating third agents, you didn’t disregard chain of command. Not even when Vivian was with us for so long. Not until Kate came on board. Then suddenly, you were telling her to ignore my orders, the orders of her  _ superior agent _ , forcing us to compete, forcing  _ me _ to compete with an agent with no investigative skills or crime scene training, giving me the probie jobs to do, putting her ahead of me. She remind you of Kelly in a way Vivian didn’t, boss? You know, popular scutlebutt had her getting the job on her back for you. I know that wasn’t true but people talk, and the reason she got the boot from the Secret Service wasn’t a secret: sexual misconduct discovered during the investigation of a death on Air Force One, that was too juicy to keep from spreading around. And the way you treated her, with such deference, didn’t help her there at all. I was still hearing those rumors right up until the day she died. Then, ah, yes, then we have Ziva, she really pushed those surrogate daughter buttons, hard and deliberately. She played you like a Stradivarius, Gibbs. She was a spy, she was Ari’s handler, she’s the reason he put a bullet between Kate’s eyes, she had dossiers on all of us, she didn’t look deep but she knew enough. You know she had orders to take out Ari, right? They knew he was rogue and if she could do it in such a way as to ingratiate herself with you, bonus points. I never understood why you had such trust in her, and I don't mean  _ after  _ Ari’s death, I mean  _ before _ . If she had been more family oriented, you’d be dead and Ari would be free.Taking her as your sole backup:  _ stupid _ . And then you accepted her on the team so easily, another woman with absolutely no investigative training, she didn’t even go to FLETC, and she was an agent of a foreign government on top of it all. Yeah, you and Jenny really messed that one up. But you weren’t about to listen to your clown of an SFA, even though you were the one who forced me into wearing that mask at all times. Well, now things have changed. Vance broke up your team and gave you a new one that you can’t even trust. I’m not an idiot, Gibbs, even if I play one in the bullpen. I’ve had a lot of time to think while afloat.  _ And  _ research. I know why Vance did what he did, and now you have  _ my  _ take on it.”

Gibbs took a step back and narrowed his eyes. “What are ya doing in DC, DiNozzo?”

Tony smiled slyly. “I had a meeting. May I introduce Colonel Jack O’Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Specialist Teal’c Murray? They needed to speak with me in person and pulled some strings to get me back to the Navy Yard, for now. I have a feeling I won’t be here long, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be moving on, again. Broke my former record by quite a bit but -”

Gibbs sneered. “Gonna be AFOSI, now, DiNozzo?”

Tony smiled lightly. “Maybe. Might still be NCIS but assigned elsewhere. We hadn’t gotten that far when you barged in, Gibbs. What, you heard I was in the building, Vance wouldn’t tell you why, so you decided it was your business since I used to be on your team and just decided to barge in and find out? Don’t bother to answer, it was a rhetorical question. I know I’m right.”

“Why ya leaving, DiNozzo?”

Tony waved his hand at Jack, knowing instinctively the other man had been chomping at the bit to interfere. Jack stood up and narrowed his eyes at Gibbs. “I finally saw enough to know where to find him. He’s mine. And he’ll be coming with me and my team.”

Gibbs cocked an eyebrow and smiled, then looked at Tony. “Found him at last, huh, Tony?”

Tony grinned and stood up. “Yep. Miles and miles and it's all mine. He can’t leave  _ his  _ assignment and I wouldn’t want him to, so I’ll be going with him. I won’t be around even if you figure it all out and get the band back together. I can’t, for oh so many reasons, Gibbs.”

“I’m happy for ya, Tony. Rule five, meant it then, still mean it now, even if I’ve had my head up my ass.”

“Thanks, Gibbs.”

“Doors always open. I can always add a third cowboy steak on the fire. If you’re in DC, drop in. You’re already missed, DiNozzo. That won’t change.”

Tony smiled widely. “I might just take you up on that. And I meant what I said about the team. Take a close look at Lee. I liked her but there’s something odd there.”

Gibbs nodded and then glanced at Jack. “Colonel. You have his six. He’s a trouble magnet.”

Jack nodded and Gibbs turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Lady and gentlemen, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the second ‘B’ is for ‘bastard’, my boss for around eight years.” Tony smiled. “Thanks for keeping out of it, Jack. I - I’ve needed to say some of that for too long.”

Jack smiled. “Glad to help.”

Tony shrugged, a bit uncomfortable. “He’s not a bad guy. He really  _ can  _ be a bastard but he’s basically a control freak. And most people are so intimidated by him they let him get away with being outrageous, like bursting in just now. There’s some stuff going on in NCIS right now, I’m sure you picked up on it from some of what I said, and I should be safe away from it all on the carrier. He likely heard I was here and was worried I was getting pulled into it. Director Vance isn’t a fan of mine, at all, and I have a history of taking assignments that aren’t necessarily in my best interest and relying on backup from unreliable people. Gibbs knows me and I’m pretty sure he thought that I was called back to take an assignment that could potentially endanger me. So, he wanted to check on me and get me back to sea, so I would be safe.”

Jack nodded. “Former Marine, right?”

“Gunnery sergeant.”

Jack nodded. “Called it.”

Tony smiled. “Well, it isn’t exactly something he hides.”

Jack grinned. “Nah. Tony, you told him that you were coming to Colorado…”

Tony nodded. “Of course I am. I’m assuming you want me or you would have just sent some flunky with paperwork and threats to keep me quiet. And you can’t transfer. I don’t know all that you do and I’m pretty sure I won’t find out until you give me that paperwork but I know it is really important, likely  _ Earth shatteringly  _ important. So, I go to Colorado. It isn’t like being afloat is my lifelong dream or anything, and frankly even before this assignment, NCIS here in DC wasn’t a picnic. I was starting to hate my job. Now, I can either transfer - I’ve seen Marine uniforms at your base - or see if I can join AFOSI. Do you guys have an agent of either at your base? I can do that, it’s what I’m good at, trained for, or I can train to do whatever you need me to do. We’ll work it out. I can even join the police force if necessary. I won’t be a stay-at-home mate, I’d go stir crazy, but there’s plenty out there I can do even if it isn’t at your command.”

Jack shook his head. “Yeah, no, I want you in the mountain. We don’t have NCIS or AFOSI read in on the program. We handle everything in house. But you’ll be read in anyway and we could get it worked out to get you to cover both branches. I’m the 2IC and can tell you it is  _ much  _ appreciated. And we can talk about the rest after you sign the non-disclosure paperwork.”

Tony nodded. “Good enough for me. I’ll need a few days to organize the move. I sublet my apartment and all of my furniture and most of my stuff is in storage. The rest is on the carrier. We need to clear my transfer with Vance and likely you need to get SecNav to put the pressure on him. And he’ll need to assign another agent to take my place there. So, I  _ may  _ need to go back to the carrier for a few days. At least for a few hours, minimum, to collect my gear and brief my replacement on the open cases and matters on board. I won’t just cut and run. And frankly, knowing you’re waiting for me, the ship will be bearable.”

“We can come with you.”

“Jack, I really don’t need my hand held. I’m a big boy.”

“Fine. But the transfer thing shouldn’t be a problem. General Hammond warned the Secretary it was a likely outcome of this meeting, so I just need to give him a call and get the ball rolling.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “At least you didn’t already have the transfer papers in hand.”

Jack bit his lip. “I thought about it. But I couldn’t be sure you would want to complete the bond and be with me. I needed to meet you and find out but I would never have pressured you if it wasn’t something you wanted.”

Tony sighed. “I’ve always wanted it, Jack. For a number of reasons I thought  _ you  _ wouldn’t but from the moment I first saw through your eyes and realized you were so much older than I was and a man, I wanted to find you.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Okay, then. Uh, Carter, call the General and let's get this party started.”

Carter nodded and smiled as she walked to the window and took out her phone.

Tony motioned to the door. “We might as well head to the Director’s office. I don’t think it will take long for that ball of yours to hit him in the head and he might appreciate a warning.”

Jack walked to the door, Daniel and Teal’c following, Carter remaining behind, still on the phone. Tony left the room behind his soul mate’s team and tensed as from his right, near the elevator, a pig-tailed missile screeched, “Tony, Tony, Tony!”


	3. Chapter 3

Before Teal’c or Jack could think to intervene, the forensic tech barreled into Tony, throwing her arms around him in a bear hug. “Tony, Tony, Tony, you’re home. I knew the bossman could do it. Now we just need to get Ziva back from Israel and the Gibblettes are together again.”

Tony returned the hug briefly and then eased his way out of the embrace. “I missed you, too, Abby, but I’m not back.”

Abby frowned and pouted. “Of course you are. You’re here. Gibbs won’t let him send you away again.”

“Abby, I’m here for a meeting or two, that’s it. I’m not coming back.”

“Don’t be silly, Tony. Of course Gibbs wants you back.”

Tony sighed. “That isn’t what I said and it isn’t what I meant, either, Abby. I said I’m not coming back; not that Gibbs didn’t want me back. I’m sure he would want me back when he could but I’ve got other priorities now, Abby.”

Abby shook her head fiercely, the pony tails hitting her in the face. “Ridiculous. Anyone can be an agent afloat, Tony. I’m sure you’re doing great but the ship isn’t your  _ priority _ . Gibbs is, and the team: Timmy and Ziva and me and Ducky and Jimmy. Don’t worry, we’ll get Ziva back, too, and the two of you can finally resolve your UST.”

Tony put his hands on Abby’s shoulders and gave her a light shake. “Abby, please focus and actually  _ listen  _ to me. Don’t spin things to your version of the world. First of all, there is  _ no _ UST between Ziva and I. There is no sexual tension there on my part, unresolved or otherwise. Ziva is a beautiful woman but I’ve never wanted to actually sleep with her. And the only reason she would have slept with me would be to manipulate me. We aren’t some great romance story, Abby.”

Abby opened her mouth and Tony placed one of his fingers over her mouth. “No. Listen, hear, accept. Ziva and I was never going to happen. Even if we hadn’t been sent to the ends of the Earth after Jenny’s death. Second, I’m not going to be stationed here again.” Tony gestured to Jack over his shoulder. “See the nice Air Force Colonel, Abby? His name’s Jack and he’s my soul’s mate. My being stationed on the carrier during his most recent vision was a blessing; it gave him enough info to find me at last. And he can’t transfer to DC. I’m not giving up the love of my life, Abby, just to be on Gibbs’ team. Gibbs understands.”

Abby smacks Tony’s shoulder. “Stop being stupid, Tony! Gibbs needs you. You can’t abandon him!”

Tony swiped a hand down his face and stood up straighter. “Abigail Sciuto!” Tony raised his hands and revealed a secret he had hidden from the Goth forensic tech for years. His lips spoke and his hands signed the words in unison. “Gibbs understands. He wouldn’t want me to throw away a chance at real happiness just to be here and have to wear a mask. I know you hate change but you need to grow up. People change, people leave, people  _ die _ . I know that Kate’s death almost broke you but you need to deal with this better, Abby. Kate wouldn’t want you to be this way. She’d want you to grow, not revert. Don’t shame her this way. Live for her, like she would have for you.”

Abby gaped at him, then her face fell and she threw herself at him, bursting into tears. “I miss her so much, Tony. I - I don’t know how - I can’t - please, Tony, don’t leave me.”

Tony held his friend and rubbed his hands up and down her back. “We can keep in touch, Abby, but this is happening. Get some help, sweetheart. I miss the Abby I met when I first started working for NCIS. After Kate died, you fell apart in so many ways, kid. You haven’t been  _ you _ in years. You’ve been a caricature at best and an absolute bitch who only cared about herself at worst. I understand the grief but she would have hated what you’ve become. Don’t diminish her that way.”

Abby sniffed and nodded against his shoulder. “I just - it’s the only way I can get up some days, Tony. I loved her so much. I didn’t realize - I didn’t think anyone knew.”

Tony raised his eyebrow, “That she was your soul’s mate? I knew, Abby. It’s why I’ve given you so much leeway in recent years, especially when Gibbs was in Mexico. Now, stand up, hit the bathroom and fix your face, then make an appointment with the company shrink and be  _ honest _ , Abby. Let them help you. Find yourself again. Be the Abby that Kate loved, not what you’ve become since she died. You didn’t die with her and she’d be glad of that.”

Tony wrapped the Goth in one more hug, tight and hard, then they separated and Tony led the way to Vance’s office.

He strode into the outer office and smiled at the Director’s personal assistant. “Hi, Cynthia. How have things been around this place? Settling into the habits of a new director all right?”

The beautiful woman smiled at Tony. “It was a difficult transition but Director Vance understood and wasn’t overbearing. And it helped that he had been here before, heading up the office as Assistant Director a few times, so at least I knew him before - before she died.”

Tony nodded. “I’m glad things are going well around here for you. I know how close you were to Jenny. Is he available for a conference right now?”

Cynthia glanced at her computer screen and then the phone near her desk. “He’s due in MTAC in forty-five minutes and he just got off of a call with SecNav, so just a second.” She picked up her handset and pressed a button. “Director, Special Agent DiNozzo and guests would like a conference.” She nodded, hung up the phone and smiled at the Italian. “You can go on in. He was expecting you, evidently.”

“Thanks, Cynthia.”

Tony opened the door to the big office and led Jack, Teal’c, Daniel, and Carter, who had caught up during the confrontation with Abby, into the room. He stood in front of the Director’s desk but the older man stood up and waved toward the conference table. “I have a feeling this won’t be a short meeting, Agent DiNozzo. Let’s all be comfortable.” 

Tony took a seat and the rest followed him. Vance sat at the head of the table, seemingly pleased Tony hadn’t tried to usurp the spot. It was a reaction the agent understood. Vance knew Tony had been Gibbs’ Senior Field Agent for years and had learned from him. Gibbs always tried to be the one in control of any situation he found himself in. He would have tried to take the head of the table to put Vance in a subservient position. Tony hoped Vance would understand while he had learned from Gibbs, Tony was his own man. It might not matter much depending on the outcome of this meeting, but it still set a good tone to start.

Vance slipped a toothpick into his mouth and raised an eyebrow. “Would you like to explain the call I just got from SecNav about you, Agent DiNozzo? Or the one I got insisting I get you back here to the Navy Yard?”

Tony nodded. “Yes, sir. First, I’m not sure if you’ve met these people. May I introduce Major Doctor Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, Specialist Teal’c Murray, and finally, Colonel Jack O’Neill, my soul’s mate.”

Vance’s eyes widened. “Ah. Well, that explains more than I would have thought a simple introduction could.”

Tony smiled. “Jack and his team are stationed out of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado and they can’t be re-assigned. Their duties are crucial to national defense. And I won’t be separated from Jack. We don’t have a presence on the base there since it is heavily Air Force but there are a large number of Marines and a few Navy personnel in Jack’s command. And AFOSI doesn’t have anyone read in on the project, either. I’d like to remain with NCIS but if necessary I could likely transfer to AFOSI. It hinges on you, sir. I know that you don’t care for me or my  _ style _ of agent. You sent me afloat as a cross between a punishment for my role in Jenny’s death and a way to get me out of the way for the little side project you wanted Gibbs on. I also know that you would eventually have been - pressured - by Gibbs to get me back here from the carrier. Gibbs knows now I won’t be coming back to DC. I also gave him my take on the members of his current team. After all, one of them was the probie on the team I led for several months. And I think you should take a careful look at her. I liked Michelle but she wasn’t just the legal wuss Gibbs always seemed to see her as. She has reason to hate him and the agency. I don’t think she would have gone looking but if there was outside pressure being brought to bear - I feel she’s more likely than the others. But, regardless, I won’t be back in DC. I am willing to return to the carrier for a few days or weeks in order for you to assign another agent to the position and for them to get up to speed on the open cases. Then, I’d like to create a single office in the mountain. I’d be the only NCIS agent and would use resources already read in on the classified nature of Jack’s command to conduct investigations. I’d be willing to cover the entire command, Marines, Navy, and Air Force, something that currently, due to the top secret nature of the base, is handled entirely in-house by Jack, who is the second in command, and his commanding officer. I’m willing to be flexible but I don’t believe Jack and his commanding officer will read someone in who doesn’t need to know, so I couldn’t just staff a full office.”

Vance sat back in his chair. “You’ve given this a bit of thought.” He chewed on his toothpick, an obvious replacement for the cigarette he would have formerly had in his mouth. He nodded. “This is basically what SecNav suggested. I’m not read in on this project, so you would be on your own unless that changed, Agent DiNozzo. I actually  _ do  _ have faith in you as an agent. I recently took the time to read your  _ full _ file. I won’t apologize. Even if I had already read it, I still would have sent you afloat. You were right. I needed Gibbs free to handle the current situation. And I appreciate your insight. I’ll look into it. I have an agent I can have to the carrier within thirty-six hours and give it another twenty-four to brief her on your open cases and you can have your transfer. I do believe you’ll be cursing me for agreeing but according to SecNav, they need someone like you in that mountain. I’m not sure about handling the AFOSI duties on top of everything else but by the time you come back from the carrier, I’ll have all of the info you need from this end. Good luck, Agent DiNozzo. And congratulations.”

Vance glanced at the clock as he rose to his feet. “The transport will be ready to go back to the carrier in thirty hours. Make the most of the time.” He nodded to the others. “It was a pleasure to meet you. Feel free to contact us if you need more support or if you’re willing to read me in. I’ll admit, I’m curious as hell about what’s going on but I understand classified.”

Tony smiled. “Thank you, Director Vance. I’ll be in touch.”


	4. Chapter 4

Jack slid the keycard into the slot on the hotel door and swung it open when the light turned green. Tony smiled as he followed his soul’s mate into the suite. Jack’s team was returning to Colorado to get things set up there while Jack and Tony spent some time together before Tony returned to the carrier. Then Jack was going to have meetings in DC with the Pentagon liaison to his project and get things taken care of for Tony.

Tony knew he and Jack were going to complete the bond tonight but he also knew before anything sexual occurred, the two of them needed to have some serious private conversation. Both of them had landmines in their past that needed to be addressed or they would risk damaging their bond before it had a chance to fully form.

Tony glanced around the suite as he closed the door behind him. There was a comfortable looking leather sofa with a coffee table and a couple of arm chairs in the center of the room and a large screen television on the wall. There was a door on the left side of the room Tony assumed led to the bedroom and a smaller door to his right, likely a closet. The carpet was plush and deep, the dark ruby tones complementing the light wood accents around the room. The windows beyond the seating area led to a balcony and a beautiful view of the monuments.

Tony caught Jack’s eye as he turned around and nodded to the sofa. Jack raised an eyebrow but said, “Okay.”

Tony and Jack took seats on the sofa. Though they were at opposite ends of the red leather, they turned their bodies toward one another and the space seemed very small. Jack had removed his uniform jacket and rolled up his sleeves and Tony found his eyes continually catching on the  _ so  _ familiar sight of those forearms. He had seen them crawling through the mud, breaking necks, shooting guns, holding onto parachute cords, holding onto a woman’s waist as he fucked her, helping a friend back over a balcony, drinking beer, reading a paper, holding a baby; Tony knew those arms so well yet he didn’t really know the man they belonged to. He had assumed he would never meet his soul’s mate and now that he had, he was blindsided by the feelings flooding his body. The bonding hormones were still overwhelming his normal depressive state and making him more assertive and confident but he still felt like that lonely little boy deep inside. He knew he would never be alone again but it was hard to overcome decades of conditioning, even, maybe especially,  _ self _ -conditioning.

Tony took a deep breath in, held it for a moment and then released it in a long sigh. He looked up and stared Jack in the face as he began to speak. “I want to complete our bond and I fully intend to. But, if we rush this, if we ignore the issues we both know about, it could cause this entire thing to blow up in our faces. I know I have triggers that you could easily set off and I am  _ positive _ you have triggers I don’t know of, as well as a few I can surmise. We need to talk. It won’t change the ultimate outcome, nothing will make me back away from you, from this, from  _ us _ . But that doesn’t change the fact that we need to make things easier for ourselves, not harder. I don’t like the idea of talking about our feelings and our - let’s call them our perceived weaknesses - but I know we need to at least touch on them.”

Jack sat back and released a sigh of his own. “Yeah. I get ya. I - uh - I appreciate you not being - um - explicit with what you know. Or what I think you know based on what you did say - about Iraq.”

Tony nodded. “I needed you to know that I - I saw - I saw what they did to you. I worried for a long time, I still am, to be honest, that it would cause - um, issues, with the fact that I was a guy.”

Jack sat forward. “I get that. It could have. It took me a while to get beyond it, and frankly, Sara helped a lot. And the mandated therapy. I didn’t tell everything to the military shrink, but Sara put me in contact with a friend of hers who was a psychiatrist and I was able to work through it. The thing is, I’ve never not - you - before you died - before your body died when I was a teenager and you were reborn as who you are now - you were male. I dealt with my own cultural homophobia when I was like fourteen. My mom - you’ll love her - she helped me understand it wasn’t wrong or evil or perverted. I grew up in a small town and had never even thought about such a thing until I saw a vision of you - or the you before that died - having a shower after gym class and proving quite obviously you were a guy. I slept with guys along the way, quietly, but I had no problems with it. And after Iraq, it was more having to deal with the fact that I was raped than that I was a  _ guy  _ who was raped by  _ guys _ . I mean, when a woman, a woman who isn’t a lesbian, is raped by a guy, it doesn’t turn her into a lesbian. I was gay. I found guys attractive, I liked fucking and getting fucked. I had no problems having sex with women, which I guess most would say made me bisexual, labels have never been my thing, really, but I’ve always preferred guys. Maybe because I knew my soul’s mate was male, maybe just because that is what I liked. I mean, after you died, you could have been reborn female. I didn’t know for sure until after I was back from my honeymoon and I saw my first vision of you, playing football. But anyway, I don’t have any hang-ups about having sex with a guy just because I was gang raped when I was a POW. I’ve had sex with guys since then.  _ After  _ I got divorced. I  _ never  _ cheated on Sara. But after the divorce, I went back to what I preferred most of the time.”

Tony nodded. “I’m glad you were able to work through it. I’m glad you were able to get help. I really worried about you. I was terrified for that entire year that my next vision would be storm clouds. Though I would have preferred that to seeing another vision of you still in that prison. It was a shock - and not entirely pleasant to be truthful - for the next vision to be you and Sara having sex. It kind of hurt and reinforced the worries that you wouldn’t want a male mate.”

“Sara and I, we loved one another. But we both knew it wasn’t forever after. We met through an agency, we both wanted to have a family and weren’t of an age with our mates. I let my mother talk me into trying it and Sara and I were happy. When Charlie was born, I loved that boy so much. But I was stupid. I - I didn’t teach him - I just told him not to play but he didn’t respect them - I didn't want him to understand what I did - that I was a killer - I wanted to be his hero - I should have taught him, if he had understood - Charlie wasn’t even a teen, not even close and he was angry with me and he found the key to the drawer I kept my gun in and he was playing with it and he shot himself in the head. I lost him. And it was my fault.”

Tony slid close to Jack and laid his hand on the older man’s wet face. “I’m so sorry, Jack. But it was a tragic accident.”

“It wouldn't have happened if he had understood about guns.”

“It  _ might  _ have. You don’t know that, Jack.”

“I - my head may sometimes accept that but my heart never will, Tony. I’ve dealt with a lot of my issues surrounding Charlie’s death. Daniel helped pull me out of the depression I was in when we met. I was on what was basically a suicide mission and he helped me see another way. I don’t want to eat my gun anymore, but I lost Charlie and I fell apart. I couldn't turn to Sara, I felt too much guilt, and we ended up divorcing over it, and I couldn't find you; it was a very bad time for me. I wish you had come to find me in Albuquerque. Or at least contacted me then. Things would have been so different.”

Tony shook his head, “I’ve had bad patches of my own, Jack. My father - he - Senior’s a prick and an asshole and - well, you may have had a great childhood and supportive parents. I didn’t. I found out my parents weren’t mates and my mom met her mate after she married my dad and bonded with him. But Senior wouldn’t let her go and she found out she was pregnant. I - well, I wondered when I found out - the timing - but I  _ am  _ Senior’s son. She was pregnant, unknowingly, when she met her mate. But then he died. I don’t know if Senior had anything to do with that, it’s possible. He’s a ruthless son of a bitch. Anyway, by the time I was old enough to understand, my mom had lost herself in prescription meds and alcohol as a way to cope with her life. And Senior, something happened with his mate, I don’t know what, but he turned to alcohol, too. The hard stuff. He’s a functioning alcoholic. And a very violent one. To mom, to me, to the staff, but mostly me. And after she died, he was left with just one target. Then when he found out that you were a guy - and I wouldn’t denounce you and let me make me a dynastic match like his with my mother - he disowned me. He still paid for my schooling, Rhode Island Military Academy, but only because it would make him look bad to do otherwise. And RIMA wasn’t a great place. I was  _ pretty _ and it opened me up to some - well, bad things. But I was tough and thanks to Senior, I had a high pain tolerance, so I made it clear, and  _ painful _ , that I wasn’t interested. I never told anyone else for a very long time that my mate was male. And after college, the police force, I liked guys, like you, I preferred guys, but I didn’t want to get killed for being a gay cop. I saw it happen, or nearly, and it wasn't worth my life to fuck some random stranger. At the time I saw you in Albuquerque, I was a teen, young, and in a fairly shit place in my life. Once I realized you were married, with a new baby, happy - I couldn’t have intruded, Jack. It just wasn’t in me. I have issues, my baggage has baggage, and it has only gotten worse over the years. I - the only reason I’ve been able to be so - assertive - since we met is due to the initial bonding hormones shoring me up. I need you to understand that I understand depression. Jack - I - what you saw, the vision that led you to me - I was standing looking out over the fantail - I was trying to get up the final bit of gumption to jump - I’ve been really depressed for a very long time and the isolation of the ship, I wasn’t dealing well, at all. So, frankly, you saved my life, most likely. The hormones are fighting off the depression. And I don’t want to kill myself anymore, but I need you to be there for me, not just sexually. I could easily slip again and I don’t want to. I have trust issues and commitment issues and I’ve been burned too much. I need to depend on you and I need you to talk to me, not shut me out.”

“I’ll do my best, Tony. I’m not real good at the feelings yadda, but for you, I’ll try.”

Tony wrapped his hand around Jack’s neck and pulled him close, “That’s all I can ask.” Tony closed the distance and his lips met Jack’s for the first time. His eyes fell closed and he sank into the feeling of completion the bond sent him.


	5. Epilogue

Tony stood in the doorway to the security office and shook his head. It had been a crazy roller coaster of a year and a half since he and Jack had finally met. When he had first arrived at Cheyenne Mountain and signed his life away through non-disclosure agreements, he had learned the Great Puddle was properly called the Stargate. 

He wasn’t made a full member of SG-1, the title of Jack’s team, but was considered an auxiliary member: ready to be called upon if his skills were needed. His first trip through the Stargate was supposed to be a milk run of a mission, the mission postponed when the team had come to DC to find him, and then put off a few extra days until Tony had finished his duties on the carrier. 

The plan was to take him through the Stargate to meet these new potential allies, the Kelownans and hopefully pick up a sample of the element Major Carter was so interested in. Tony had been trained on the guns the team used and shown some other things, like the zat’nik’a’tel, or zat gun as shortened by Jack. Tony was geared up and ready to go on his first mission, designed both to get him acclimated to the idea of interplanetary wormhole travel as well as allow the new NCIS/AFOSI office to be set up in his absence. 

Tony had designed the needed space. It was one floor above the SGC’s brig and had four interview rooms, set around a central control room. Each wall of the control room was made up of a thick one-way mirror, the control room side being the viewable through side. There was a bank of recording equipment and computers in one corner and each interview room had multiple cameras and a table and chairs, with bolts for shackles to lock to on the floor. Down the hall from the interrogation rooms was a large conference room and then an office. It would have three desks in it, Tony’s own, and two for members of the SGC’s support staff he would be training in investigation techniques, both crime scene and interviews. Across the hall from this office area was a secure room, somewhat like MTAC back in DC. Forensics were handled by science staff who were trained in their fields and who Tony eventually trained in evidence handling.

Tony had been standing at the base of the ramp, dressed in the standard SG-1 uniform for off-world trips and watched the MALP enter the wormhole. The device had made the trip several times by this point, first by the original team who had made contact with the planet (SG-3) and then several times to coordinate SG-1’s visit, including the delay caused by Tony, and the current visit. The team was about to proceed up the ramp when the gate room tech, Sergeant Walter Harriman, called for them to stop. After a few moments, General Hammond had told them to stand down and asked for Major Carter’s assistance. The rest of the team, and Tony, had returned to the locker room and armory, to get comfortable, then headed to the briefing room.

General Hammond had taken his seat at the head of the table and asked Major Carter to show them the video transmitted by the MALP. Tony had watched as the device had re-integrated and then the awesome if terrifying view, stars in the blackness of space. The MALP began spinning somewhat wildly and Carter rewound the video and slowed it down. They all watched as the camera panned around the remains of the planet, now a large chunk of broken open planet and several smaller chunks of what were now asteroids. Even as the camera recorded and transmitted, another section of the main body broke off and floated away. It was obvious something catastrophic had occurred to the Kelownans.

Over the next several weeks, while Tony had settled into his position as agent afloat inside a landlocked mountain, Carter had performed tests and her team had found a way to rig a UAV to operate in space. It was able to get a better look at the debris field and even brought back some samples of the mineral that had been so sought after in the first place. The SGC knew the Kelownans had been experimenting with the element, which Carter called naquadria, a more unstable version of naquadah. Carter determined one of the Kelownans’ experiments had gotten out of control and caused a chain reaction, which spread to the veins of naquadria in the planet’s core, causing a massive explosion which tore the planet apart, killing the entire population nearly instantly.

The upside of the disaster, for the SGC at least, was Carter was able to mine enough of the naquadria to determine how to create it in the lab. And there was no danger of an out of control reaction on Earth since there was no naquadah or naquadria in the soil. Naquadria was still incredibly dangerous but it couldn’t rupture the Earth’s core accidentally.

One of Tony’s jobs as he settled into his role was going over the files gathered by the SGC about the rogue elements of the NID over the years. Tony had found lots of evidence of their corruption and plots and his investigative techniques and ability to think outside the box had brought down the entire shebang, including the SGC’s perpetual enemy, Senator Kinsey. The evidence against the man, and of his treason, was overwhelming enough the President was able to force him to resign “for health reasons,” and then locked him away in prison, while the public believed him to be at a private hospice, dying. Tony also worked to shed light on the organization behind the NID, called The Trust, and was able to block many of their power plays.

And using the papers he examined, Tony was able to lead the teams to several caches of alien technology, both on Earth (brought back when the NID was using the other Stargate), and in NID off-world stashes. The cache included three Goa’uld cargo ships fitted with cloaking technology and fairly advanced hyperdrives.

A few months after he was read into the SGC and started working in the Mountain, Tony had gone with the team to Antarctica when a team there had discovered a woman frozen in the ice. While en route, Tony had reviewed the information about the Ancients and the reason they left Earth and when the team arrived in the frozen wasteland, he had insisted everyone wear hazmat suits. He had pointed out that thanks to the Groundhog Day time device, they knew the Ancients had fled a plague, and  _ Tony  _ knew of plagues. He refused to let them mess around, and was proved correct when it was revealed the frozen woman was an Ancient, was still alive, having been in a type of stasis while frozen, and was a carrier of the plague. The original scientists had contracted the disease but the woman was able to access her powers to heal them. SG-1 wasn’t infected due to Tony’s precautions. But the effort of healing the scientists was too much for the woman and she died.

Tony had also been called to the scene when the Tok’ra and the Jaffa were fighting over the attacks on their shared base. He was able to quickly prove it was a plot of a third party and the two groups worked together to destroy the new weapon of Anubis, nicknamed a super solider.

Then Tony again endeared himself to the solemn Tok’ra when he was able to broker a deal whereby the Queen Egeria, found on Pangar, was healed and able to once more reproduce. The Tok’ra queen was able to stabilize the drug while she healed, and found a way to artificially synthesize it, without needing to use her children; and the people of Pangar who had become addicted and the Jaffa who were slaves to their prim’ta were able to take the new tretonin only once and their immune systems were fully healed.

And when on a mission, a  _ humanitarian  _ mission, Tony and the team had been captured by Nirrti and subjected to her experiments to find and create an advanced host. When she messed with Tony’s DNA, he had discovered he had Ancient genes and it had unlocked the powers of the Ancients within him. Even after going through the machine once more, his genes remained partly active and he got a visit from an old “friend” of SG-1, Oma Desala. 

Oma revealed Tony was capable of ascension whenever he wished it; he would not require outside assistance as most of his kind would. She also revealed Anubis was actually partly ascended, or rather, partly  _ de _ -ascended. He had tricked her into ascending him and the Others had managed to send him partway back.

These things combined to allow Tony to come up with a theory. The Others didn’t like what Oma did. She was breaking their rules by interfering in the natural progression of the “lower species.” But they wouldn’t interfere with  _ Tony  _ because he didn’t need Oma’s help. He had the powers of an Ancient due to his natural genome. All Nirrti’s machine had done was unlock the block that had been on them. Tony had no wish to ascend but he could contact them. And he did. Tony was able to make contact with a trio of ascended Ancients and they informed him Anubis was not their problem anymore; he was Oma’s lesson - and punishment.

Daniel and Tony went to Kheb and talked to Oma, Daniel touching her heart and convincing her Anubis needed to be stopped. And Oma agreed to take her punishment as she should; she engaged Anubis’ higher form in combat and he was unable to take his attention from her to do anything on the lower planes or he’d be fully destroyed.

The past year and a half had indeed shown him some crazy things, and changed his life in so many ways, but  _ this  _ \- this took the cake. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This was the cherry on his weirdo sundae. 

Tony had spent the night in the mountain at the NCIS office, having just finished a case and gotten a confession from a rapist in the wee hours. He had grabbed a brief two hours of shut-eye when security had called him to the office. And now he stood, staring at the face that could have stepped out of one of Mrs O’Neill’s photo albums: Jack O’Neill, looking around age fifteen or sixteen. But Tony felt no tug of his bond toward the young man who had used Jack’s ID to get into the mountain.

The young man stared at Tony and his face fell. “Tony, babe, I don’t know what’s going on. I woke up like this and I really need to fix it.”

Tony gazed at the desperate young man. “Jack, you look like Jack O’Neill, from several decades ago, but you know the mountain, you know me, that rules out time travel.”

“Tony. Please.”

Daniel and Teal’c entered the room behind Tony. “Daniel, will you please tell them who I am?”

Daniel nodded amicably. “Sure. Who are you?”

General Hammond responded, “He claims to be Colonel O’Neill.”

Tony nodded. “Spitting image from when he was that age, like he stepped out of an old photo. But there's no bond.”

“Daniel!”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like him.”

Tony chuckled. “I’m willing to believe that  _ you  _ believe that you are Jack O’Neill. But obviously something is wrong beyond just looking like a teenager.”

The young man sighed. “Look, last night, you had to stay at the mountain so I ate some dinner, had a beer, went to bed and woke up like this. Now can we please just get to the part where Carter and Fraiser run some tests, find a cure and make me big again?"

General Hammond frowned. “This is a serious matter, young man.”

“Okay, you want proof? All right, Carter once carried a Tok'ra named Jolinar, who gave her life to save her. Tony, you got all kinds of Ancienty powers unlocked by Nirrti’s device and convinced Oma Desala to actually get off her glowing ass and take care of her mistake. And Teal’c, you and Bra'tac both just lost your snakes and thanks to the Tok’ra queen and her tretonin, the Jaffa don’t need them anymore."

Teal’c opened his mouth to speak when Carter entered the room. The young Jack looked over at her and flinched while her mouth dropped open. “How, who, but my last vision was black and grey, you can’t be, how?”

Tony snorted, “Well, that cleared things up a bit. You  _ aren’t  _ Jack O’Neill. Not the original. You were obviously born within the last - how long, Sam? When was your last vision?”

Sam stuttered. “Eight days ago.”

“Okay, you’re a newborn. So, must be cloning. And it wasn’t made right. But he has a soul. You have Jack’s memories, kid, but not his soul.  _ Your  _ soul is mated to  _ Sam’s  _ soul. Now, we gotta figure out where big you is. Then it’s all good. Congrats, Carter.”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I have no plans at this time to explore Sam's story in depth so DON'T ASK! 
> 
> A/N Rant Due to Some People: I have a beta and do not want unsolicited beta from others, thanks. If you don't like the story, feel free to close it. Do not give me beta feedback on a FINISHED story. It doesn't do anything other than make me upset and not want to write. Or at least, not post what I write. People have bugged me for years about this sequel and now some people are making me regret writing and posting it. So, if you don't like my story, come up with your OWN concept for a universe (soul mates and bonding or otherwise) and write it yourself. And don't use my concept without permission.


End file.
